History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s93.18

v1.c6.s93.18

Besides the digest called Vīramitrodaya Mitramiśra composed a commentary on the smṛti of Yājñavalkya. There is a ms. in the Deccan College (No. 58 of A 1883-84) which contains portions (with gaps) of the commentary on the three kāṇḍas (ācāra, vyavahāra, prāyaścitta). From the portion available it appears that the commentary was of considerable extent, though not as voluminous and as full of polemics as his digest. The ācāra portion had at least 446 folios (with 6 lines on each side and 30 letters in each line), the vyavahāra at least 257 and prāyaścitta a great many more than 153. Besides the works noted above he quotes the Karmapradīpa and the Smṛtisāra. In this work he does not quite approve of the reasons for the preference shown to the mother over the father as an heir by the Mitākṣarā, viz. the occurrence of the word 'mātā' as the first word when the word 'pitarau' is dissolved and the greater propinquity of the mother as compared with the father, since the latter can beget sons from another wife.¹¹¹⁰ The commentary gives three varieties of *dāsī*.¹¹¹¹ Vide I. O. cat. p. 371 No. 1288 and Peterson's 2nd report pp. 49-53 for further details about this commentary.